University Celebrates 34 New Endowed Faculty Chairs

As part of a major initiative to recruit and retain outstanding scholars and teachers, Vanderbilt is this year announcing 60 new endowed faculty chair holders. Already 34 of them have been honored in a series of events at the Student Life Center, celebrating the achievements of the chair holders and the generosity of those who made the endowments possible. They are:

Daughter’s Gift Still Changing Lives

Louise B. McGavock never attended Vanderbilt, but her impact on the institution still resonates nearly 50 years after her death in 1965. The prominent Nashville philanthropist and social leader left her trust, including her family’s historic Two Rivers Mansion, to Vanderbilt University, eventually making it possible for the university to establish eight faculty chairs in the School of Medicine. Three of the new endowed chairs announced earlier this year stem from her generosity.

Mrs. McGavock’s gift to Vanderbilt was made in recognition of the care that her father, William Bransford, had received at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She made a gift in his name in 1956 to expand and renovate the hematology laboratory. Through the years, careful stewardship of her estate has allowed Louise McGavock’s gifts to continue to sustain Vanderbilt and to accomplish more than she ever could have envisioned.

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